The way we make sourdough bread in my family is very simple and don't require a lot of work or maintenance.
Making the bread is flour, salt, water and starter and letting it rise on the kitchen table overnight.
For rye bread make a wet dough and bake for 1.5-2 hours at 160C. Knock on it to hear if it sounds like it is baked all the way through.
For wheat bread the methods are very similar to long rise no-knead yeast bread. Usually people here like the wheat bread less sour and therefore use a very small amount of yeast together with the sourdough starter.
I have never seen anyone feeding their starter here (in Denmark), instead we sprinkle a layer of salt on top and keep it in the fridge. It will keep for a long time even if it might turn ugly and smelly. If there is mold I would bin it and get a fresh from sourdough-making friend (I think some would scrape of the mold). I have never heard of anyone starting their own sourdough starter here, so the starters in circulation could be very old and have travelled very far! I like that thought:)
Personally I also use sourdough starter for pancakes/dosa/injeera. All types of flour can be used or whole grains/lentils that are soaked and then blended.
A good trick is to get the new starter from the new dough BEFORE you let i rise and then allow it to ferment in its own jar. Then you wont accidentally bake everything and not have a starter (this happens for many people)
